Cheers!

Peppermint Hot Chocolates and the Fashion Island Christmas Tree lighting.

Let the Holidays begin!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

....Christmas!

Tonight Brody and I went to Disneyland { Yup, we are hooked--and we love it} for the sole purpose of seeing the first official night of the Christmas season. It was pretty busy, so we parked in Down Town Disney and took the monorail in---and got to sit in the very back of the train, in our own car!

{ Click on any photo along the way to make it larger }

It was great! You get such a wonderful view coming in, with all the window space we had.

After dinner, we strolled around and enjoyed all the beautiful lights, decorations AND Christmas music! It was wonderful.

Don't you just love this time of year!? It seems to be even more magical.

My best "High School Musical" jump. Haha---Didn't mean for it to be that, but after looking at it, that's what it sort of reminded me of. : )

The inside of a balloon bunch.....you knew you were curious ; )

I was trying to take a photo of the Train Station all decked out, when Brody decided he would add a little something better to it by jumping into the shot...and he was right! : )

Brody giving Goofy a helping hand! haha, I love this one!

Caramel Apples! How cute are these!?!

Fun with Time Lapse Video!

{It is totally worth watching the whole thing--You will get to see a guy do a whole painting super fast =). There really is no sound to the video. Enjoy! }

This guy was so amazing to watch! He performs in Down Town Disney by the ESPN Zone and Rainforest Cafe. They paint these animal portraits, fast, to music, and sell them to help save the endangered animals.

{ Go Here } to find out more about 'Splash Animals'. and their cause.

What can we say....it was another great night in the magic kingdom! We are so excited for the Holiday season, and to go back and see all the other things we didn't get to see tonight....gotta leave some for next time! : )

Picnic in the park

We had a great little picnic in the park with Camille, Jeff, & Gabby today!

It is Camille's Birthday on Monday, so we pulled out this cute/sorta fancy picnic set we got for our wedding, got some cupcakes, sparkling apple cider and flowers to make it a bit more special! : )

It was a bit too windy for candles today---I'm afraid the wind got most of Camille's wishes! ; )

But she was able to beat out the wind for one wish.

After lunch we had a nice relaxing time---enjoying the warmth of the sun, throwing around the football (which I ended up being quite good at), and just enjoying each others company.

Gabby's best mad dog foot ball face : ) She looks pretty game, doesn't she?

She crawled over to Brody and got RIGHT up in his face and stared him down.

It was pretty darn cute.

I got this shot a bit late, wish I had gotten her when she was nose to nose.

haha.

She is so cute!

Can't leave a playground with out some play time.

We had such a fun time picnicking. Thank you for a fun afternoon guys!! : )

{ More new posts below }

PS- I am getting so close to having a full year of posts to order my "blog book" at the end of the year. So exciting!

Disneyland with family

A good family friend of ours, Jack Taylor, passed away this past week in his late 80's. Yesterday we were able to be a part of a wonderful funeral service, where we learned even more about what made him such a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend to all. He served in the military, including WWII---so they had the Marines there to carry out tradition with the gun salute and presenting the flag to his wife. It was such a beautiful service.

One of Jacks favorite things was Disneyland. So the family thought it would be a nice end to the day to go to Disneyland in memory of Jack, and remember all the many fun times they all had there with him over the years (since it first opened). And we were lucky enough to join in with them (since we all feel like family =) and be a part of the night! Brody and I (through a good friend) set up special seating for the group to watch the firework show, (seated) RIGHT in front of the castle, away from the standing crowd in a little VIP area. Everyone loved it, and we were so happy to do it for them! And all the lines were just 5-25 mins at the most, it was the perfect night for them! We had a great group with the Money clan, the Nicholson's, my parents and us. =)

Our seating area before they got the list to let us in.

Eating popcorn

We thought Donald looked hungry =)

Here we are before the show. My Dad now has a pass! It was fun to all be there. =)

Some of the group in our seats, we had about 12 of us in all.

Margot and I. We love Margot!

Some photos of the show! I was SO SO excited when I found out that they were doing my all time favorite firework show, AND we were SO close. I think it is called, 'Magical'? It is where they take you through the history, rides and lands at Disneyland. It is the BEST! =)

In front of the castle

All of us on Space Mountain =)

and Buzz Lightyear!

It was so much fun to be a part of this with everyone. We had such a great group! =)